23

It's the 23rd of the month. Again. That stuff about it getting easier. HA! Not easier. We're here at the beach. Dave loved to go to the beach. He'd bring his guitar and sit around the fire and play. He'd eat oysters with my dad and walk out on the sand when the tide was low. He'd play games with the kids and the dogs. He'd hang out with Dad and Denny in the shop. It doesn't seem right that he's not here with us. This is our first trip to the beach (that's what we call my mom & dad's house...they live on Willapa Bay, a couple of miles from Long Beach) in several years. The last two years before Dave died, our travels were mostly to Seattle...no energy to drive that extra two hours here and back. My memories of Dave here are of him healthy and vibrant.

It's been a good vacation. We went rafting in Wenatchee, took a spin through Leavenworth and Cashmere, spent some time with Erik, Evy & kids in Seattle, saw the Weiderspans at the zoo in Tacoma, went miniature golfing in Puyallup, spent a few days in a new hotel there down on the waterfront. I took the kids on a nostalgic tour...this is where your dad worked (they have re-vamped the West End Tavern into a Pub and Grill!), this is where we had our first date, here is the house I was living in, here's his fraternity house, here's the house where we lived when you were babies....you get the idea. We ate at Spaghetti Factory and Frisko Freeze and saw Pinch's Deli (we were too full to eat there).

We also went to Gig Harbor. We had lunch with Brian Wickens. It was so good to see him. We went to the cemetery in Gig Harbor to see Kyle and Doug's graves. It was an emotional experience, especially for Kate. I'm trying to decide what to do with Dave's ashes...if you've been following the story, you might remember that Dave's ashes are sitting on a table in our living room. Complete with Goofy hat. Or sometimes a WaHi or Seahawks hat. I haven't felt pressed to do anything, especially since there is that giant rock at WaHi (thanks, Val and crew!) for people to have a place to go to remember. I see flowers there often. And the kids don't seem to mind Dave just hanging out. I wanted Dave and Kyle together...and now with Doug buried next to Kyle, I didn't want to move Kyle....sigh. One suggestion was to leave the marker, but move Kyle's ashes. Kate burst into tears. She thought that was a terrible idea. They said we could put Dave's ashes in the same grave with Kyle, there's a sealed concrete box. That might be an option. That would work...at least until I die.

Then we went to Kelso. I got to have coffee with Lisa, and that was really nice to reconnect with her. Then we drove on to the beach. Then back to Wallyworld for a couple of days, then back to the beach. You should see Duke. He's having an absolute blast here, running like crazy until he just runs out of steam and falls over in the shade to sleep.

Oh...and in the category of, "What Did I Do Wrong In A Former Life To Deserve All This - Minor Division," there won't be any more pictures...somewhere between Wenatchee and Seattle, our camera disappeared...you guessed it, our new digital video camera that records on the mini-dvd's and takes still pics, too. Sheesh. At least there are wheat pancakes with fresh blackberries and blueberries for breakfast, so it can't be all bad!